Hasse Case News Today

did you start to think that there was a list? >> no, sure. i dont think there was any doubt in my mind this was a serial killer we were dealing with. >> someone had declared war on law enforcement and their families. >> i have kids. my husband, i cant keep putting them at risk. >> my wife had two guns out. i said unless you know its me coming through the door, be ready to use them. >> is there some sort of antigovernment militia group? i had no idea what we were dealing with. >> before...

>> everyone in the office was on edge. >> my husband, i mean, he stayed up all night with a gun in his hand. >> i know that i started carrying a gun. sleep with a gun under my pillow. >> even shannon, who wouldnt carry a gun before, now slept with protection nearby. >> we had a big ol shotgun sitting on our dresser ready to go just in case. >> the killers threat to unleash more violence in kaufman county kept the task force working around the clock. a special team scoured the surveillance video ...

District attorney mike, made it easier for everyone to get concealed handgun licenses. >> we can take -- for free. and we could have our license if we needed it. >> did you get a gun? >> no. >> did you think about? it >> yeah. >> its the kind of thing people do when theyre scared and panicked. the justice system under attack. the murder brought an all-star army of law enforcement to the case. the sheriffs training center was turned into a command post. it was soon buzzing with local police, texa...

Be the magic phone call. >> there was something that might lead them to the killer. the way mark had been murdered. the killer had been lying in wait. mark was shot at point blank range. execution style. all of this lead investigators to think that this could be an organized crime hit. >> rumors are sweeping the town! top of mexican drug cartels, and prison games. >> were open to every avenue. >> nbcs channel five in dallas covered the case from the beginning. and reporter, ken, was there for it...

County, where county district attorney mike mcclelland and his wife cynthia have been found shot to death. >> the news touched off a firestorm of public concern. tips started flooding into the reopened kaufman county sheriffs command post. some tips still cited the aryan brotherhood of texas. special prosecutor bill wirskye -- >> with the added media attention after the mcclellands were murdered, we got hundreds of tips a day. >> it was like drinking out of a fire hose during this whole thing. >...

But it was slow going. >> how do you sift out, well, it couldnt be this person. maybe this person. >> first of all, you see if theyre still locked up. you see where they are. their whereabouts. you see if theres anything unusual or specific about a case that would give someone cause to have a grudge. >> four weeks into the investigation, a tip came into the county crime stoppers tip line that look like a big break. >> a tipster said they had been in a bar, in a small town in kaufman. and overhea...

A sheriffs deputy recognized the user i.d. for the county crimestoppers anonymous tip line. the first number corresponded to a tip from early in the hasse case. the tipster claimed to have overheard two men in a bar saying theyd killed mark hasse. that meant the tip came from williams computer. a follow-up computer search also revealed williams had searched several how-to websites. >> one of the websites was how to throw the police off an investigation by sending in fake tips. >> the second numb...

Been linked to that tip that came in after the mcclelland murders. >> he sent an e-mail in to law enforcement claiming credit for the murders, thinking law enforcement would never figure it out. but he was wrong. >> investigators didnt have the murder weapon, but they had something else, a bullet they found inside a bag taken from williams storage unit. >> you know this is what you and your team recovered. >> yes. >> a ballistics examiner compared that single unfired bullet to the shell casings ...

Lives for something good. they stood up and they did what they were supposed to, and they died for it. >> this is my chance to tell you the story of the murders of mike and cynthia mcclelland. >> prosecutor bill wirskye thought if he could prove eric williams had killed cynthia, that would obviously show he killed mike. >> youll hear the story of a massive law enforcement investigation -- state, local, federal agencies working together to build an airtight case. >> one of the first witnesses cal...

Mcclelland murder scene. records showed he did not. the case was still stalled. but soon, the task force would get one of those lucky breaks theyd always hoped for. it came out of the blue and gave the investigation some much needed juice. coming up, a special prosecutor goes on high alert. >> i get on the phone and tell my wife to make sure she knew where the kids were, get inside, and keep the doors locked. and a stranger calls with a stunning revelation. >> i could tell when i listened to...